Eugenio María de Hostos Community College is proud to announce that the Lambda Literary Foundation granted this year’s Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award to Hostos Distinguished Lecturer Charles Rice-González.

The Lambda Literary Foundation is the nation’s leading national nonprofit organization promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) literature and writers. These awards identify and celebrate the best LGBT books of the year and affirm that LGBT stories are part of the literature of the world. The Awards ceremony has consistently drawn an audience representing every facet of publishing.

Rice-González won the award along with writer Imogen Binnie.

The judges for the 2014 Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award were the Los Angeles-based authors, poets and educators Steven Reigns and Griselda Suárez. “This year’s pool had many highly eligible applicants and in the spirit of Dr. Berzon, both winners are committed to making their communities more engaged in LGBT issues,” said Reigns and Suarez in a joint statement. “Binnie and Rice-González create literary space, both on the page and through activism for underrepresented stories, characters and communities. These two writers have already established their voice in their respective communities and through their hard work have emerged onto the literary world with bold, provocative writing.”

The Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, was made possible by Teresa DeCrescenzo, and named after her late partner, the renowned author and psychotherapist, Dr. Betty Berzon.

About Charles Rice-González
Charles Rice-González was born in Puerto Rico and reared in the Bronx. He is a writer, a long-time community and LGBT activist, co-founder of BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. He is a Distinguished Lecturer in the English Department at Hostos Community College where he also serves as the Associate Artistic Director of the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture.

Charles Rice-González received a B.A. in Communications from Adelphi University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College. His debut novel, Chulito (Magnus 2011), has received awards and recognitions from American Library Association (ALA) and the National Book Critics Circle. He co-edited From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction (Tincture 2011) with Charlie Vázquez. He is also an award-winning playwright and his play I Just Love Andy Gibb will be published in Blacktino Queer Performance: A Critical Anthology co-edited by E. Patrick Johnson and Ramón H. Rivera-Servera in 2015. Charles serves on the boards of the Bronx Council on the Arts and the National Association of Latino Art and Cultures.

About Hostos Community College
Eugenio María de Hostos Community College is an educational agent for change that has been transforming and improving the quality of life in the South Bronx and neighboring communities since 1968. It serves as a gateway to intellectual growth and socioeconomic mobility, as well as a point of departure for lifelong learning, success in professional careers, and transfer to advanced higher education programs. The College’s unique “Student Success Coaching Unit” provides students with individualized guidance and exemplifies its emphasis on student support services.

Hostos offers 29 associate degree programs and five certificate programs that facilitate easy transfer to CUNY’s four-year colleges or baccalaureate studies at other institutions. The College has an award-winning Division of Continuing Education & Workforce Development that offers professional development courses and certificate-bearing workforce training programs. Hostos is part of The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s leading urban public university, which serves more than 480,000 students at 24 colleges.